


daft pretty boys

by reylofics



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Angst, Bisexual Male Character, F/M, Hurt, Jealousy, Obsession, Pining, Self-Harm, Unrequited Crush, Unrequited Love, Unrequited Lust
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-14
Updated: 2018-07-14
Packaged: 2019-03-09 12:39:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,195
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13481679
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/reylofics/pseuds/reylofics
Summary: jonathan pines over nancy in s1.





	daft pretty boys

**Author's Note:**

> sorry that i don’t know how to write anything other than angsty/unrequited love fics. bad habit, oops!!
> 
> anyways, thanks for reading this. you’re pretty cool if you’re taking time to read my so-so story.
> 
> * tw for minor descriptions of self-harm (biting lips and scratching), implied homophobia and depressing thoughts.

Steve Harrington was nothing but an airhead pretty boy in a school full of airhead losers. The only thing that separated him from the rest was his attractiveness and smart mouth. Everyone fawned over him. There had even been a time when Jonathan Byers had been in awe of Steve Harrington.

No, awe wasn’t the right word. It was more like an obsession. Jonathan would often catch himself drooling over the pretty boy in class or pretending that he was only taking pictures of him for the yearbook. Who was he kidding, anyways? Those pictures never even made into the yearbook room. They were all sitting in some drawer back at home. Of course, that was before Jonathan met Nancy and Steve melted away. Sure, sometimes he questioned whether he was jealous that Nancy was dating Steve or whether he was jealous that Steve was dating Nancy. Then he would hear Nancy laugh (at one of Steve’s jokes) and all his confusion was swept away by her pretty face. Jonathan was infatuated with Nancy and only her. He didn’t seem to remember a time before her. It was like she was the one he had been waiting for all along, except he never drooled over in class and he never took pictures of her to take home. Maybe it was just because he wasn’t so nervous around her. “Hey, loser!” Mike snapped Jonathan out of his thoughts. Michael Wheeler stood impatiently in front of his friend’s older brother, his arms crossed. For someone who wasn’t even in high school yet, Mike was pretty intimidating. On the other hand, Jonathan’s younger brother was standing off to the side like he didn’t want to be consorting with anyone, much less his weird older brother.

“Y-yeah?” answered Jonathan, the word stuttering off his tongue.

Mike huffed. “Can you take us over to your house or what? Nancy left with Steve this morning in his car, so her dumb ass left the car at home. And she said she would take us,” he gestured to Will and himself, “to hang out at home. But she’s going somewhere with her stupid boyfriend in his car after school because she forgot hers at home or whatever. So, what do you say?” The way that the words came out made it seem like more of a demand rather than a request that Jonathan drive the two boys home. Unfortunately for Will and Mike, Jonathan had lost track of the conversation when he heard Nancy’s name paired with Steve Harrington’s. He bit his lip as hard as he could while gazing at Nancy across the parking lot on his end. Biting his lip seemed to be a recurring habit of his when he looked at her. It sometimes seemed like a coping mechanism to stop him from looking elsewhere. That was silly though, so Jonathan guessed that it was most likely some other subconscious thing. Or maybe he just really liked biting his lip. 

Still, she looked pretty from afar. She always did, but it also seemed like something was always missing. Not that there was anything wrong with her—it was probably just something wrong with Jonathan. She was really pretty.

For some reason though, she was standing alone at Harrington’s car while Harrington stood at the other end of the parking lot, talking to one of his friends. Jonathan thought he saw Steve looking at him looking at Nancy, but Steve’s eyes were only glazing past him in search of another body. Finally, his eyes reached Nancy. In a matter of seconds, Steve started to walk towards Nancy and away from his airhead friend like a moth drawn to a flame. The action ignited a weird feeling at the bottom of Jonathan Byer’s stomach but he chose to ignore it.

Everything after that happened so quickly. Nancy noticed that Jonathan was looking and returned his dopy gaze on her with a small smile as Steve planted his lips on hers. She squealed and Jonathan could hear her perfect laugh even though they felt miles apart. “Steve!” she exclaimed, swatting his shoulder. Feigning shock, Steve dramatically gasped as Nancy giggled and leaned in to peck him on the lips again.

Jonathan turned away, disgusted. How could Nancy love some stupid pretty airhead like that? “Hello? Earth to Johnny Boy!” Mike waved his hand closer to Jonathan’s face than he would’ve liked.

Jonathan blinked. “Sorry, what?”

Will cleared his throat, trying to take a softer approach to Mike’s request. “What Mike’s trying to say—,” he started.

“—What I AM saying is, can you or can you not take us to your shithole that you call a house?” Mike Wheeler gave an exasperated look to Will. He rolled his eyes as if to say, ‘Can you believe your brother? Geez, I thought older brothers were supposed to be cool!’. Sighing, Jonathan took a quick glance at the spot where Steve had kissed Nancy while she had been looking at him. Of course, they had already left. Nothing was left but the black tire marks that had been burned into the ground when Steve had pulled out of the parking spot. “Well,” began Jonathan, turning back around, “I guess I can drive you.” Jonathan thought of Nancy Wheeler and Steve Harrington, who were presumably all over each other by now. “I have nothing left to lose,” he said, stealing a quick glance at his younger brother and his confused friend. They probably thought he was crazy.

Quickly, he turned away towards his car, not wanting to betray his emotions.

“Gee thanks, old man!” yelled Mike from behind him as he dragged Will to the car with him.

Jonathan turned around for a brief second and gave them an awkward smile before turning back around and pinching himself violently on his arm, digging his nails deep into his skin. He felt emotionless and wanted to bleed, to feel something other than heartbreak. Was that what he was feeling? Heartbreak? He paused, lost in his own thoughts. 

It was heartbreak. He couldn’t stand the thought of seeing Nancy with Steve Harrington. Seeing her fawn all over another pretty airhead boy just as he had made him want to vomit. Steve Harrington was only going to break her heart just as he had broken countless others before hers. Seeing Nancy Wheeler and Steve paired up and his brother with Mike Wheeler, Jonathan felt alone. The two friends hopped in the car behind Jonathan and Jonathan Byers had never felt more isolated.

Will spoke up after a few minutes spent in the car in which his older brother had been sitting in the front seat with his head in his hands. “Jonathan? Are you—um, are you ok? I mean, you haven’t even started the car and if you don’t want to drive us, that’s fine, but I also think that would be really unf—.”

Jonathan silenced him with his hand and swiveled around, trying to say something. Instead, he said nothing and put the key in the engine, pulling back in reverse.

Jonathan Byers was not about to explain his feelings to a bunch of 12 year olds.

**Author's Note:**

> please leave a kudos/comment if you feel comfortable doing that! as always, much love to you all.
> 
> update: this story was originally written on january 26th, 2018 but has since been edited and revised.


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